OLD:Alien Hives Warfleets Tactics

Alien Hives
Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight Grimdark Future: Warfleets
Species:	Alien

Why Play Alien Hives?

Pros:

• Lots of uses for your squadrons.

Cons:

• Your unique squadrons die immediately.
• Several of your abilities require Squadrons as ammunition, so you'll need either a lot of them or to buy Mother Ship so you can spawn more.

Heroes

• Infinite Adaptation: Whenever this ship activates, it can shift a weapon onto an unassigned facing. Helpful if you're trying to keep a key weapon focused onto an enemy, but this will run into issues if you lack a free facing to move it to.
• Mother Ship: Allows this ship to spawn two units of Broodling Squadrons each activation. Excellent for you if you're planning on making a particular ship the main focus since those Broodlings will take all the fire.
• Tyrant Champion: This ship gets +4 to hit and +4 Strength when attacking enemy heroes. Very important if said hero's going to be an heavy ship.

Titles

• Chameleon Shroud: So long as this ship doesn't take any damage, all enemies take -1 to hit it. Good idea if you're keeping this particular ship far from the thick of battle.
• Specialised: This ship's turret gains either Anti-Ship or Anti-Squadron.
• Symbiosis: This ship counts as being a squadron with the Shielder rule. Handy if you're trying to make a heavy ship into a distraction.

Systems

• Constriction: When ramming, you can have a ship self-destruct instead, placing two Boarding Tokens per upgrade the ship had. This is a last-ditch sort of option, since this is sacrificing an entire ship, but it can be devastating if used with a Medium or Heavy ship.
  • There is a bit of uncertainty on whether or not this only counts the number of upgrades active when this is triggered or all upgrades regardless of their status.
• Nerve Cluster: When activated, a friendly squadron within 6" of this ship can also activate as well. Excellent for keeping Broodling Squadrons together with their charges.
• Nutrient Repo: This ship can devour a friendly Squadron within 2" to recover 2 damage. Very handy if you have plenty to spare, especially with the Mother Ship hero.
• Pheromone Glands: After this ship activates, all friendly Squadrons within 12" can immediately move towards this ship.
• Predator Cysts: This ship's turret gets a +1 to hit and to Strength when firing at an enemy ship with more max upgrades. This gives your ships a fighting edge against bigger enemies.
• Spore Vents: This ship can take damage in order to deploy a Spore marker within 2". This marker provides cover for everyone within 2" of it, making this handy for protecting incoming support or for masking an escape.

Weapons

• Acid Spray: Short-ranged but rapid-fire broadsides.
• Bio-Cannon: A mid-ranged Blast weapon.
• Juice Rifle: Very powerful at Att3 Str3, but firing it requires sacrificing a nearby Squadron. If you don't have a Mother Ship, you'll probably only be firing this once or twice in a game to demolish a big ship.
• Mortal Missile: A mid-range weapon with +1 to hit, making it handy for getting around more evasive foes.
• Psy-Aria: Each hit from this gun forces the enemy to make a Morale check to prevent damage instead of blocking.
• Saturation Cannon: It's a cannon with Blast, but each Blast also dispenses Boarding Pods to anyone unlucky to be near the original target.
• Spike Launcher: A mid-ranged cannon with Anti-Ship.
• Swarmer: Very short-ranged and none too frightening, but if you pass a Morale check before firing, it gains +6 attacks to become a nightmare.

Ships

Heavy Ships

• Matriarch Ship: It's a huge ship with one major issue: It has no turret to speak of. Instead, you're given an extra upgrade slot (5 over the Cruiser's 4), so you'll need to buy extra guns if you want to stand a chance in combat.
• Harvester Ship: It's pretty much the generic Cruiser, but it's cheaper on account of sacrificing an upgrade slot.

Medium Ships

• Administrator Ship: This particular variant of the Destroyer has its own unique rule which makes it count as two ships for the sake of Morale checks. Very handy if you're keeping it protected, but do expect enemies to fire any Sniper weapons at it for an easier victory.
• Guardian Ship: A Destroyer Variant that costs as much as a generic Corvette thanks to sacrificing an upgrade slot. If you're looking for a well-protected battleship, then you've got a good one right here.

Light Ships

• Warrior Ship: This variant of the Corvette has a 5+ Evasion, making it a little harder to hit than most ships of its types.
• Worker Ship: A dirt-cheap Corvette that only has one upgrade available to it. If you just need cheap Constriction kamikazes or stray guns, you've got the ship right here.

Squadrons

• Extractor Squadron: The epitome of glass cannons. These things will die immediately thanks to Evasion 4+ and Fragile, but when they shoot at a ship, those hits are guaranteed thanks to Finisher adding +1 to hit and to Strength for each nearby squadron. They're best served being flanked by Bombers or Gunships that can tank a little bit more abuse.
• Tentacle Squadron: Annoying distractions more than anything else. Thanks to Swarm, any attacks without Anti-Squadron only hit them on a 6+, meaning that they'll be persistently there to harass an enemy.
• Broodling Squadron: Do yourself a favor and take a few. Not only are they dirt-cheap at 5 points a pop, but Shielder means that these are your ablative wounds for more valuable ships. This is especially true if you grab the Mother Ship hero, as you'll then be able to spawn more shields.
  

See Also

• Alien Hives Tactics
• Alien Hives Firefight Tactics
• Alien Hives Miniatures
• Alien Hives Quickplay Armies
• Alien Hives Firefight Quickplay Armies

Alien Hives
Overview - Tactics - Firefight Tactics - Warfleets Tactics - Miniatures - Quickplay Armies - Firefight Quickplay Armies - Warfleets Quickplay Armies